Segments of Pathways
by Cecelia S. Bradley
Summary: A collection of drabbles. / Latest: Conversation Time. Because guys are often easier to talk to than girls.
1. Placebo

**Hi, reader! Thanks for getting even this far in the story. :) So, basic idea, this is going to be a collection of drabbles. No, they will not all be sad. The first one or two will just happen to be. I will try to update quickly, but I can't promise. I will try, though.**

**-:-**

**Placebo**

_Because she still wishes it was real._

-:-

Prison.

Life sentence.

Guilty.

Gone.

Isabel was gone. And she didn't have to worry anymore about living in her shadow. She could move on, grow up, quit idiotically moping over clothes in a closet, on a bed. She was stronger, wasn't she? She was free now, wasn't she? She was safe, wasn't she?

She wasn't. And she knew it. Because no matter what she said to herself, she knew Isabel could get out of jail as simply as she could jump out of a flying airplane. And she knew that Isabel could leave that place more easily then she herself could leave Isabel's clothes lying on her bed there. She was intelligent. She was brilliant, in fact. So she knew full well that she was never going to be safe.

Escape.

Leaving quickly.

On parole.

Here.

She kept believing in the placebo, though.

_How could she live, otherwise?_

-:-

** Next Drabble:** "Jaded Amber" _Because those eyes held nothing anymore, no matter how much I wished they could._

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Jaded Amber

**-:-**

**Jaded Amber**

_Because those eyes held nothing anymore, no matter how much I wished they did._

**-:-**

"Ian? Um, hi. I was just wanting to let you know that, um, well, um, I just got a boyfriend… His name? Evan. No, not that Evan. Another one. You haven't met him. He's lovely, I swear… Well, I was just telling you because I just thought you should know and, uh, I thought it might be important to you… Oh, gosh… Ian, I'm sorry. It's just that I really haven't loved you since I was fourteen. That was four years ago, Ian. I thought I told you that. We haven't even been dating… Oh, my. You do? Why are you even telling me this?

"You want me to stay?

"Ian, please. I'm so sorry. I really didn't know it meant that much to you… No, I do care about you, Ian, just not like that. Please, Ian… Ian? Ian, don't do that. A-are you crying? Ian, something's the matter, I can tell… Me? Oh my gosh, Ian, I'm sorry… No, I am, Ian… Why would you say that?... No, it's not true. I do care, Ian. I do…. I'll s-stay with you, okay? I'll stay."

That was when I lost everything: my freedom, my happiness, my chance at a good life. I think that's when I lost myself, too.

Evan left once I told him that I wouldn't be able to date him, after all. I haven't seen him since.

And I'm still with Ian. He's happy—he's on Cloud Nine, really—and it's satisfying to see him free. Not crushed like when I told him. But there isn't any spark on my side.

Sparks never fly these days.

He does everything he can for me, which is incredible, for him, and I can tell that he really cares about me, and it's gorgeous. Really, if I were able to be anyone other than myself, I would tell me, "Just fall in love with him already! He's perfect!"

But I can't. I don't care enough for him to make that leap and I care too much to just leave him here, and that's why I'm stuck. And those eyes, those beautiful amber eyes that used to have so much sway over me and my heart?

I'm jaded now. And I hate it so, so much, but that power's gone. And I can't get it back, no matter how much I try.

What if it were possible? What if this could work?

_Happily never after, I guess._

**-:-**

** Next Drabble: **"Pythagorean Friend" _Because, just like a theory can come out of anywhere, so did she._


	3. Pythagorean Friend

**-:-**

**Pythagorean Friend**

_Because, just like a theory can come out of anywhere, so did she._

**-:-**

"A2 plus B2 doesn't always equal C2, you know!" he yelled as the teacher left the classroom, leaving him there alone.

But Dan knew his point was invalid, and that he was just being immature. It didn't help that he knew quite well that the lecture the teacher had just given him had been deserved. He had been one of the top students in his math classes, as in all of his classes, really, but now… Dan kicked the wall in frustration.

He needed a ride home. Dan had his license, but he had intelligently decided to take the bus to school that day and so didn't have his car with him. He didn't want to face Amy yet, and Nellie would kill him if he disturbed her in the middle of a cooking class. That left Sinead. _Better her than nobody_, he thought to himself as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed her number. He managed to convince her to come pick him up without giving many details and, about seven minutes later, she was there.

Dan threw his backpack on the backseat and clambered into the passenger seat quickly. Sinead started the engine right away, but turned it off after driving about twenty feet.

"What's wrong?"

Dan looked up, startled.

"Nothing. Why?"

"You're not talking. You usually don't shut up until we get home. Really, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I already told you that."

Sinead just looked at him. "This doesn't take a rocket scientist."

Dan sighed. "It's just that, well, school's been a bit of an _issue_ lately. Nothing much."

She continued looking at him.

"Okay, fine. I don't really care about school anymore, and it's bugging my teachers. They won't get off my back, Sinead. It's stupid."

"And…"

"And I don't see the point of working so hard on fancy logarithms when there are still probably Vespers out there. I could be doing so much more, but instead—" Dan slumped in his seat. "It sounds so sappy, but I want to save the world, and instead I have to be here. It's not worth it."

Sinead looked at him for a few more seconds, then started the engine again. "Yeah. That sort of is a problem, but the bigger problem right now seems to be something else. Dan, you need cheering up. This is pretty sad."

Sinead made a right turn, and Dan looked up in surprise. "Um, Sinead, you turned the wrong way."

"Nope. Geniuses don't do that." Sinead smiled. "We'll talk about all of that later, when you're feeling better. Right now, though, does the name 'Ben and Jerry's' ring a bell?"

And Dan couldn't help but feel better.

_Y = you here for me, huh?_

**-:-**

**Next Drabble: **"Smiley Face" _Because one emoticon can cover up a world of emotion._

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Smiley Face

**-:-**

**Smiley Face**

_Because one emoticon can cover up a world of emotion_** .**

**-:-**

Usually, when he slammed his hand into a table, it hurt the recipient more than it did him. But that day, and Eisenhower couldn't explain why, he immediately begin to howl as soon as his beefy fist made contact. He wondered if he was going soft.

It wasn't that he was angry. Not really. More like, he couldn't stop thinking about the person he didn't want to remember. But he couldn't help but remember her…

_Two girls stood to his right at his wedding—his wife and her maid of honor. Really only there because her father was making her to reconcile the Tomas branch to them, she scowled, her amber eyes flaring. It had been so long since he had seen her smile; four years, maybe?_

_ She had visited his family one summer and had spent most of the time there conferencing with his dad, Buchanan, about her future, because he apparently knew about what she wanted. When she wasn't with him, though, she was with his son, and Eisenhower longed for those moments._

_ He couldn't help it, he told himself. Everyone must have loved her; she was such a beautiful girl. Even if their conversations were only a matter of a,_

_ "Hi, Eisenhower. I was just wondering if you could teach me how to do that blocking move I saw you doing out on the football field." And she had smiled._

_ "Uh, hi. Uh, sure. Uh…"_

_he still was immediately in awe of and in love with her. Probably because she made him feel wanted._

_ Who else had ever wanted to learn what he could teach? He knew tackling, he knew how to be on the offense, he knew how to look bigger than he was until he really was that big. He knew how to scare people by force, and though he wasn't originally proud of it, she seemed to love learning it, and so he cultivated that gift. _

_ And whenever he'd teach her something, she'd smile. He would always remember that smile._

He had learned to be tough, all right. Almost won the Clue hunt because he and his family were so very tough. Not soft. Not soft.

Not prone to gasping, like he had when he received the text from his son, "_we won trial—Kabra in jail. 4 life!" _

Not prone to wondering how she could have sunken so far from the sunny girl with the beautiful smile, when he had wishedhopedprayed that she would change, even after he quit loving her.

So he texted Hamilton, "_guess shes not coming back_ :)"_. _But that smile wasn't from him, or for him. It was a smile for her, because he knew that smile wasn't coming back. And it was a smile for a memory.

A memory of when he had not regretted being soft.

_ And how he wished so hard she had done the same._

**-:-**

**Next Drabble: **"Conversation Time" _Because guys are often easier to talk to than girls._

**Thanks for reading! Sorry for the long wait.**


	5. Conversation Time

**Conversation Time**

_Because guys are often easier to talk to than girls._

**-:-**

Nellie ran out of Amy's bedroom and closed the door to her own room. She flipped open her cell phone and went to her contacts, scrolling down to "Cahill Boiz". She immediately pressed talk and, moments later, they were on the line.

"Hey, Nells!" Hamilton shouted over the phone. "Don't mind if I work out will we talk?"

"Of course she doesn't. Duh. Hi, Nellie, by the way! You know, why are you calling me if we're in the same house?"

"Yo, wazzup, Dan? Nellie?"

"Guys! Calm down for just a second, please. Are all of you here?"

"Well, the Starlings and Kabra didn't pick up, if you wanted all us boys," Dan said. A throat was cleared at the back of the conversation, and then Hamilton started coughing.

"Sorry, I've had a cold, Nellie. Anyway, what's the matter?"

"Okay. So," Nellie began. "Amy has a crush and I don't know what to do about it and she won't talk to me or tell me anything and Sinead was just sitting on her bed laughing at me and I'm worried about Amy and I want to help her and I figured you guys would be easier to talk to than _those_ two."

"Dude, that's sick," Dan said. "Totally disgusting. My sis shouldn't have forgotten about cooties. …though, I would love to know who. Makes for great blackmail—"

"DAN!" Hamilton and Jonah yelled.

"Great sibling bonding material. Yeah. That. Sorry."

"Well, it's Ian, actually, which is why I'm sort of glad he didn't pick up."

"Aww…" Jonah crooned. "Amy and Ian, sittin' in a tree."

"Cut it out, dude," Dan said. "So, how to, um, help her…"

"I could, like, write a song for her, dawgs, if she's okay with singin' in front of Kabra."

"If he hurts her, I swear…" Hamilton muttered.

"They're not together, Ham! It's _my_ sister—be sensitive! You know, I could, like, make some papier mâché roses for her to give him, and she could dress up like an octopus and all."

"An_ octopus?_" Nellie shouted, but she never got a reply.

"Look, I'm here." A British accent rang through the phone. "You just keep chattering and I haven't yet gotten a chance to speak. I even coughed at the beginning, but that Holt drowned me out."

Everybody on the line sat at their phones, dumbfounded.

"I can talk? Excellent. Anyway, if Miss Cahill has some affection for me, just tell her that I have the same and that I'll meet her at six on Saturday. I'll fly over. Is that clear?"

"Uh—" Nellie couldn't speak.

"Excellent. Do give Amy my regards. Lovely conversation, no?"

And he hung up. The other three boys, feeling quite awkward, followed suit. In Nellie's room, though, if you listened closely, you could hear a quiet, "YESSSSSSSS!"

_Maybe one girl's wish can come true._

-:-

**Next Drabble: **"Symphonie Fantastique" _Because music was the only way he could get out._

**Thanks for reading!**


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